Must Read in a Lifetime

My friend Sheila over at Book Journey has invited me (and you) to answer this question:

What Do YOU Say Is A Must Read In A Lifetime?

And I couldn’t figure out a quick answer… If you click on the button above, you can go read her post on her idea to create a list of these books as generated from her book friends. She is allowing us 3 or 4 suggested titles.

What are my TOP TEN? My most favorite books or those books that still delight me when I see on other crazy book lists of must reads? I can’t decide! Having given myself a few days to think upon this, I’ve still been unable to create a short list of my own. So, I’m just going to start typing titles that pop into my head:

Gilead by Marilynne RobinsonThe History of Love by Nicole KraussThe Book Thief by Mark ZusakThe Stone Diaries by Carol ShieldsMountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy KidderThe Blind Assassin by Margaret AtwoodBeloved by Toni MorrisonTo the Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfSlaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (or would it be Cat’s Cradle? I need to reread and find out.)

I would love to say It by Stephen King but I just can’t. I would say the film Shawshank Redemption would be a great one for a movie list like this, though. I haven’t read the short story the movie is based on… But I do think something by Stephen King should be on such a list.

I have 974 READ books on goodreads. How many of those did I give 5 stars? 205.

From that list, I skim off some more I think could fit this category of MUST READ in a LIFETIME…

Perhaps I should pose the question differently; reframe it as “Which books, had I not read, would have made my life less? less bright, not as enriched?”

H is for Hawk by Helen MacdonaldThe Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel JoyceFar From the Madding Crowd by Tom HardyLooking for Alaska by John GreenThe Count of Monte Cristo – DumasBeautiful Ruins by Jess Walters
Beverly Cleary’s The Mouse and the MotorcycleThe Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane! – Kate DiCamilloThe Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony MarraGeek Love by Katherine DunnThis is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann PatchettTiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl StrayedThe Year of Pies by Ashley EnglishThe Secret Life of Lobsters!!! yes, gotta have this one. Trevor CorsonThe Sparrow by Mary Russell DoriaWaiting for Columbus – Tom TrofimukSeabiscuit – Laura HillenbrandLove Begins in Winter – Simon Booy
James McBride’s The Color of WaterA Tale of Two Cities – Chuck DickensWoman by Natalie AngierAtonement by Ian McEwan

Olive Kittredge by Elizabeth Strout? Or did I love Lucy Barton more?

I’m not even listing those classics EVERYONE assumes are MUSTs…. Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter… yikes.

Which 4 did I end up choosing for BookJourney’s list? Only she and I will know…

(y’all realize right? that whatever 4 I decide on will change tomorrow?!)

What can I say? I have eclectic tastes. AND, I need to read a lot more books.

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10 thoughts on “Must Read in a Lifetime”

That is a TOUGH question. But I like the idea of which books would have made a life “less” by not reading. Hmmm…

I’m thrilled to see Beautiful Ruins somewhere in your list. It would surely be on mine.

Off the top of my head here are five others:
Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

It is a hard question! Must reads … those are fighting words lol. I had a few that popped into my head right away.. As for your Stephen King book, I would go with 11-22-63. That one surprised me in so many ways 🙂

I love reading other people’s book lists, but it’s hard to make my own! I think Middlemarch would be on my list of four but it’s on my reread list because I haven’t read it in so long. Maybe The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing? It’s been a long time since I’ve read that, too!

I will say I admire you for even attempting to answer this question. I can’t choose what books I want to read next let alone decide what books need to be read in a lifetime. A few immediately pop into my mind but they are on most must-read lists. So either I am not very creative or else my tastes tend to run very literary when it comes to lifetime reads. And narrowing it down to four? Yeah, that’s not going to happen.